Monday, July 25, 2016

Incorporating Enhanced Fines Into the NRC’s Enforcement Policy

Russell ArrighiSenior Enforcement Specialist
Starting next month, the NRC’s tools for enforcing our regulations
will get a boost through increased fines, referred to as “civil
penalties” in the NRC’s regulations and policies. The agency’s
enforcement staff is working these changes into the process for
assigning penalties when a person or company breaks our rules.The NRC has always had the authority, under the Atomic Energy Act, to levy fines. We just issued an interim final rule
that increases the maximum civil monetary penalty for violations of the
Act to $280,469 per violation, per day. That’s double the previous
maximum fine.
This change stems from the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation
Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, which helps keep fines high
enough to deter violations. The law required federal agencies to make an
initial “catch-up” adjustment by July 1, 2016, effective by August 1.
The NRC and other agencies must also make annual adjustments for
inflation beginning in 2017.
The NRC is making changes
to its Enforcement Policy to keep the policy’s dollar amounts in line
with the new maximum fine. For instance, we’re doubling the base civil
penalty that applies to nuclear plants and other large licensees for the
most severe violations.
We’re also increasing the policy’s lesser penalties for other
licensee types, such as material users, to maintain the proportional
relationship between penalties. An exception to these changes involves
fines for the loss, abandonment, or improper transfer or disposal of
regulated material. The NRC can adjust these fines relative to the
estimated or actual cost of authorized disposal.
You can find more information on these changes through a set of Questions and Answers we’ve posted on the Office of Enforcement’s section of the NRC website.